Nottingham-based business founder Dr Shailendra Singh has been named as Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year for the Midlands winner at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
In partnership with Starling Bank, the ceremony was held at Grosvenor House in London on 22 November and saw 159 entrepreneurs across the UK recognised for their entrepreneurial stories and achievements over the last year.
Shailendra Singh is founder and CEO of Cellomatics Biosciences, a specialist preclinical contract research organisation (CRO) based at BioCity in Nottingham. Founded six years ago, Cellomatics has since positioned itself as the CRO of choice for its growing global client base seeking expert support with the development of bespoke bioassays.
Cellomatics Biosciences was also recently crowned the regional winner in the Barclays Entrepreneur Awards 2021.
“It is an honour and a privilege for Cellomatics’ success to be officially recognised at a national level.” Shailendra says, “Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have maintained our upward growth trajectory and have seen demand for our bespoke preclinical and early discovery phase laboratory services and expertise soar. None of this would be possible without the dedication of our passionate team of scientists and our shared focus, vision, and ambition to constantly improve and deliver quality results to our growing network of clients. I am delighted and proud to have received the Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year accolade as we embark on our next phase of growth and development at Cellomatics.”
The Great British Entrepreneur Awards launched in 2012 to celebrate the best of British enterprise, inviting founders from across the UK to apply with their entrepreneurial success stories. This year, after having to hold the awards virtually in 2020, the organisers brought together all eight of their regional shortlists for the first time, with a guest list of 1,200 entrepreneurs, judges, mentors, investors and partners invited to the London celebration.
Over the last decade, the Awards has celebrated some household names including Julie Deane OBE of Cambridge Satchel Co, Alan and Juliet Barratt of Grenade and Shaun Pulfrey of Tangle Teezer. Its most recent headline-grabbing success story is its previous winner, and speaker at this year’s event, Steven Bartlett, who in May was announced as the youngest ever Dragon on BBC’s Dragons Den.
The awards were judged by a panel of industry experts and leaders of influential UK businesses, including some of the prize winners from previous years.
Francesca James, founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, spoke highly of the entrepreneurial talent coming out of this year’s cohort: “It was fantastic to hear so many inspiring business stories after a difficult few years, and even better to have been able to invite all of our finalists to the in-person ceremony and celebrate together.
“With more than 1,200 attending, the evening was a real snapshot of the UK economy. The winners were thoroughly deserving, overcoming some stiff competition from their fellow finalists, and we look forward to welcoming them into our alumni community and seeing what they do next. It’s always exciting to watch our previous winners go on to achieve amazing things and I don’t expect any less from this year’s award recipients, who we will support all the way.”
Anne Boden MBE, founder of Starling Bank, headline partner of the Awards, said: “It is fantastic to see these worthy individuals being celebrated through these awards. We wish all the shortlisted businesses the best of luck with their future endeavours during these changing times.”